Dighton demolishes mold-infested section of police station

DIGHTON — A section of the police station was demolished by officials earlier this week after it was discovered that a section of the building was infested with mold.

“We lost 300 square feet of this building,” Dighton police Chief Robert MacDonald said Friday.

Officials are now trying to determine a location for a new temporary police department annex.

Two Dighton selectmen, Dean Cronin and Patrick Menges, said the building’s air quality is still safe. Menges said only one area was affected.

Cronin estimated that the room was 10 by 12 feet and was used to conduct firearm licensing and interviewing.

Menges said it also serves as a gateway to an evidence storage room, which was added on years after the structure was converted from a highway garage to a police station.

The department has nine full-time officers, eight reserve officers, three full-time dispatchers, the chief and his secretary, MacDonald said, indicating that the building is cramped.

MacDonald confirmed that due to roof leaks, an air-quality test detected the presence of mold in a storage area in the rear of the station.

“Times have changed,” MacDonald said. “This building does not fit for us. We need to move on and the people of this town voted for it.”

“We put a vehicle here so no one can get in at night,” Sgt. Edward Dutra said, pointing out the large gap between the main station building and a set of doors leading to an evidence storage room.

MacDonald and Dutra agreed the station’s current state should be considered a security risk.

“Now we’re just trying to survive until we get a new building,” Dutra said.

Menges said tests were conducted on the whole area last week and the air quality is still satisfactory.

“We were concerned with the rest of the building, but the test came out negative,” Menges said. “That was a big plus.”

On Thursday, Menges met with MacDonald, senior police officials and the building commissioner.

Menges said the plan is to move MacDonald and his administrative assistant to another building. Most of the police work would still take place at the Somerset Avenue station. He added that officials are looking at both public and private buildings for a police chief annex.

Cronin mentioned that the John Van Gyzen Hall could be a possibility, as well as the town grange. Menges made one thing clear — he does not want the current police department site to house any more town activity.

“The police station stands in a flood plain, and I have expressed a strong aversion to building any more structures or replacing structures on flood plain land, even temporarily, until the new police station is built,” Menges said.

The town is in the midst of building a new police station, which officials estimate will be open within two years. The new station will also be on Somerset Avenue.

Recently, Cronin confirmed that the new police station is on pace to be completed within the allotted time frame, or sooner. Town selectmen last year appointed planners, and recently appointed designers.

The proposed 7,020-square-foot police station was approved by voters at the annual Town Meeting on June 12, 2012, and in a referendum on Aug. 9 of that same year.